Hunt Close - Hammersmith and Fulham - W12. Who cares? The answer is NO ONE!

If you read the last post you would have been familiar with developments regarding S.A.A.N and the LBHF. To give some background to this, lets go back and consider the following points:

• The LBHF council have identified that there are a litany of issues that relate to the Somali community in the area
• There is an issue with engaging with Somalis in the borough
• S.A.A.N have been asked to facilitate the re-writing the community strategy for the LBHF, the last version was produced in 2007 and had a seven year time frame.
  

It is the position that S.A.A.N have stated for the last year that a comprehensive re-assessment of community relations for a number of the borough councils in London is key to developing a relationship with the Somali community that is positive. However, political expediency is a major obstacle to pushing a progressive agenda. The meeting this week was like a number of meetings that S.A.A.N have had with organisations that are in charge of the public service. It is quite clearly the case that the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing.

An example here that paints a picture of the grim, dystpoic society that we live in was relayed recently to a S.A.A.N member. A Somali single mother from Hamlet Gardens in Hammersmith contacted the LBHF due to the poor condition that her flat was in, rising damp had rendered the flat almost unlivable. This became a complicated internal battle for the LBHF; between the Housing department, the legal officers and the community liaison professionals charged with upholding the rights of the most vulnerable members of society. Detailed exchanges were considered as to whether a family was being left to live in a dilapidated home due to their ethnic origin; their Somaliness was the reason for their arrested development. Exploited by a public service authority who are struggling to maintain a social housing agenda for all. It was only after legal action was threatened that matters were resolved, when the woman in question was re-housed in a new-build three bedroom flat in the borough. It is unsure why such swift action was taken once the woman's legal representatives got involved, but I think one can guess the reasoning behind the LBHF's actions.

This is an example of why problems tend to persist and are not tackled with due diligence. It is with this in mind that S.A.A.N were told that policing is at the top of the agenda for the LBHF council; all other matters are subsidiary. The authorities are anxious for information regarding a community that they have deemed to be too difficult to decipher from the outside. They need an inside angle; representatives who would benefit from a positive relationship [funds] in return for services rendered. It is the case that other community groups are engaged in this kind of relationship, but have hitherto failed to show they are competent to perform the simplest of tasks. This is a sobering thought; people from the Somali community are willing to perform for food but invariably have proved to be 'not good enough'. The perpetrators of the criminal acts in Hunts Close have been apprehended. There is however a need to identify other suspicious members of the community who are wanted for questioning for their alleged involvement in other incidents.

I hope this piece serves as a warning.